Recent News

As a member of the bigger-hammer school of tuning, Chuck Mallett is aptly named, and this CTS-V is a prime example of his work. Owned by John Bender, the car made its competition debut in last May’s One Lap of America, finishing second in the Luxury Sedan Class. But it was clear that winning the Sedan Class in this shootout would take more. More is Mallett’s specialty. The stock 5.7-liter V-8 was replaced by a 7.1-liter V-8 block (of Le Mans Corvette fame), a billet crank, and forged pistons from GM Motorsports. The heads are Corvette LS6 with stainless-steel headers. The V-8 is force-fed by a Vortech supercharger with a Garrett/Vortech intercooler blowing at “about 16 to 17 psi,” according to Mallett, who adds, “I’m quoting 751 horsepower.”

Considering its vast output and ferocious Corsa-muffler exhaust note, the Mallett-massaged Caddy was surprisingly manageable in the public-road portion of our show. Nevertheless, it makes the forward progress of a standard CTS-V seem fairly tame. Punch the throttle, and you’re pasted into the driver seat like cake batter as the car leaps forward like some great primordial beast. Habit forming.

There’s more to this mad Mallett than just motor: double-adjustable coil-over shocks, heftier anti-roll bars, HRE 18-inch forged aluminum wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires, and an intriguing and perhaps unwise touch: a brake kit that included a set of lightweight $5000 titanium rotors. The titanium-brake setup didn’t perform to expectations. We weren’t surprised because titanium rotors can’t match iron for thermal capacity or conductivity. The car’s first MIS run produced a stop from 150 mph that was in excess of a quarter-mile, whereupon the CTS went back to stock brakes in the interest of safety. Mallett says it wasn’t the fault of the brakes but his, because he used the wrong pads and grooved the titanium rotors. Maybe, but we’re still skeptical about the effectiveness of these exotic rotors.

The Caddy was also extremely hard to launch, thanks to its stability system, which refused to be fully switched off, producing a huge bog leaving the line. But on its final pass, the CTS finally hooked up, knocking almost a full second off its quarter-mile time and nipping the Vishnu Evo by 0.2 second for the day’s fastest Sedan Class run. The secret: “We turned on the A/C,” says Mallett.

Mallett muscle doesn’t come cheap. The powertrain package alone lists for $58,545, and the total as-tested price comes to $120,365. On the other hand, this is just about the baddest Caddy around. John Bender can hardly wait for One Lap 2005. —Tony Swan